#leave the world behind review

[dreamzandexperiences]

Leave the World Behind: Popular Movie 2023 on the Netflix.

Welcome to "Leave the World Behind," a psychological thriller that ventures beyond the conventional, plunging its characters and audience into a labyrinth of mystery, uncertainty, and unnerving quietude.

Leave the World Behind – A Journey Into Uncertainty In the midst of a technological era, where connectivity is presumed as constant as the air we breathe, imagine a world where silence descends, screens flicker into oblivion, and the pulse of civilization begins to fade. Welcome to “Leave the World Behind,” a psychological thriller that ventures beyond the conventional, plunging its characters…

[agentnico]

Leave the World Behind (2023) Review

Guess that's one way to make me dislike Friends more.

Plot: A family vacation on Long Island is interrupted by two strangers bearing news of a blackout. As the threat grows, both families must decide how best to survive the potential crisis, all while grappling with their own place in this collapsing world.

So much wasted potential. A long drawn-out slow shuffle to Nowheresville. A movie that offers so many ideas, plot points, and thread lines that are never answered or go anywhere:

Why is there the random static noise throughout the film and where is it coming from?

The deers and flamingos congregating at the property are simply explained as "the animals know something we don't" and then there's no further explanation or follow-up about that.

Is Mahershala Ali's character's wife dead? Probably, but who cares?? Instead, let's have him and Julia Roberts have an awkward drunk dance scene where the two come close to cheating on their respective spouses because that makes sense! Oh, and Ethan Hawke's character may be a nonce!

Why are the son's teeth suddenly falling out? There's a reference to an insect biting him, so does that mean there's a mysterious plague spreading? Possibly, but we don't deserve to know apparently.

A random shot of the US flag on the moon overlooking Earth as it covers the sun to cause an eclipse is a lovely visual trick, but what's the point of it? Are they suggesting an alien invasion??

Why are Teslas without drivers crashing into one another? Actually no - that doesn't surprise me. Just so you know, that checks out.

I could go on. I'm all for a movie being mysterious and not giving us all the answers. Just look at any David Lynch project - the man's an enigma! But even with Twin Peaks and such Lynch at least provides enough depth and reason to the worlds he creates that all the weird stuff fits in well. In Leave the World Behind things are truly happening under the motto "just because" and "why the hell not" and it makes the viewing experience immensely frustrating. Especially when the movie is nearly 2 and a half hours long and the anticlimactic abrupt ending is a slap to your face for wasting your time.

The performances are alright. You have a trio of 1980s icon stars - Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, and Kevin Bacon - and naturally, they play their parts as you'd expect them to even if Bacon is heavily under-used and Roberts' line delivery in certain dramatic moments was over-the-top and borderline hysterical. Mahershala Ali lives and breathes Academy Award-worthy performances. He delivers every note of his dialogue with such a methodic approach that the guy could appear in any true stinker and still stand tall and proud. So of course he's great and probably carries most of the heavyweight acting here. Myha'la Herrold is given one characteristic of being constantly pissed off, so that works out as she does a solid resting b**ch face.

Visually director Sam Esmail does some funky camera work, with a particularly well-executed sequence when Roberts first walks into their holiday house, and as she's exploring and going up the staircase the camera twists and pans over her very smoothly. Another moment involves a drone chasing Hawke's character as he's driving away while it spills red leaflets everywhere, reminiscent of the alien from Jordan Peele's Nope. Again, the production design and aesthetic of the film are done well, even if it is at times amateur. Netlfix evidently did not chicken run from the budget. However, narratively the movie tries to portray so many different messages that it ends up failing to explore even one. Neither fitting in as a black comedy nor a clever social thriller, this truly may be the most irritating film of the year. Leave this movie behind.

Overall score: 3/10

[afabstract]

Leave The World Behind Review - Striking, with a 'WTF Why?' Ending

A family's impromptu vacation turns into a nightmare when two strangers show up at their door late night like harbingers of bad luck. Read our review of "Leave The World Behind" starring Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke & Mahershala Ali.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 3.5 out of 5. “Then I remembered what the world is actually like. And I came to a more accurate realization – I fucking hate people.” The camera pans to a close-up shot of Julia Roberts in the opening scene of the 2023 Netflix film “Leave The World Behind” as she delivers that line and you believe her. Julia is Amanda Sandford, a cynical working mom of two, who plans an impromptu…

[spryfilm]

Movie review: “Leave the world behind” (2023)

[tskumoyuuma]

it is kinda funny tho that so many people missed the very blatant message of the movie about how easy it is for people to turn on each other when they dont have all the answers .... and they missed this because they wer too angry about not having all the answers

[poetslore]

An exploration of themes in Netflix’s “Leave the world behind”

1. Societies reliability on technology and the side effects of this reliability. One example of this is Ethan Hawke’s character Clay. Clay attempts to drive back to town so he can buy a newspaper and hopefully come across someone who knows something about the blackout. Unfortunately Clay gets lost on the way to town due to the fact that his cars GPS isn’t working. If he hadn’t relied so heavily on technology he would’ve known how to read a map and likely would’ve made it to town.

2. Societies distrust in humanity. One theme that I immediately noticed is the characters distrust of other characters. Julia Roberts’ character Amanda immediately distrusts George and Ruth, while their spontaneous arrival is strange she immediately didn’t trust them (the second she heard them knock on the door she didn’t trust them). We as an audience also experience distrust. When we first see Kevin Bacon’s character Danny we think he is odd and is likely going to be a possible villain due to this odd behavior. When Rose and Archie come across the tool shed in the middle of the woods I presume most of the films audience thought someone creepy likely resided there. This growing distrust that society holds for humanity is caused by are easy access to negative media (petty and major crimes are reported more often) and due to our growing obsession with true crime which has made us paranoid and distrustful of even the kindest of people.

3. Sometimes old is better. The teslas. If your remember just after the halfway mark of the film, Amanda and Clay decide that it’s best to leave to Scott’s house and go to Amanda’s sisters house in Jersey. On the way there they come across a pile up of Teslas and nearly get killed by oncoming teslas. This is because Teslas contain a self driving feature. This feature is purely technological which is how the hackers were able to manipulate the Teslas self driving feature in order to isolate communities.

4. Violence in the media. This is a rather small theme but remember when the flyers are thrown from the drone and Clay is absolutely terrified. Well the flyers said you know what (I don’t want to get reported or banned) Archie immediately knew what these flyers said due to the fact that he saw that exact same phrase in a video game.

5. Our hatred, yet reliability on humanity. This movie has one major theme and it first appears in the beginning of the movie. Amanda reveals that one of the prime reasons why she wanted to go on vacation was because she wanted to get away from people. Ruth is consistently harsh and downright disrespectful to Clay and Amanda and everyone in the family shows an annoyance to Rose, the youngest child. It’s obvious that 90% of the characters don’t actually like people and dislike socializing yet the characters consistently attempt to rely on the news and fellow people in an attempt to figure out what’s going on.

6. Age leads to discredit. Rose is probably one of the smartest characters in the film. She consistently takes note of small details such as the sirens and the deer, unfortunately everyone around her including her own parents consistently ignore what she has to say and discredit her intelligence as simply being the musings of a 13 year old. It is obvious that everyone (meaning Clay, Amanda, Archie, and Rose) don’t have any respect for each other and because of this lack of respect they aren’t a cohesive family whatsoever and they consistently get in little tiffs about the dumbest of things.

These were just some things I noticed while watching the film.

[yeahiwasintheshit]

Oh god julia roberts and netflicks’ new movie ‘leave the world behind’ is so fuckin stupid. Just finished watching and it so badly written. I love a good apocalypse movie. Is the world going to shit? I’m there. This dumb fuckin movie had some of the worse dialogue I’ve ever heard. Like the story is decent, and the suspense isn’t bad, but what they had all these people say was so embarrassing. One point, 2 characters who haven’t gotten along are having a convo where one makes this ridiculous speech “that bridges the gap between them” and it’s really bad, but the response from the other character was so bad I audibly groaned. She said “our 2 Venn diagrams have not overlapped until now. I agree with everything you just said” oh my fucking god it’s so bad. And then there’s the fuckin Julia roberts dancing scene which is so stupid. The tonal shifts in this movie are wild and ridiculous. I think they’re trying to make it sort of a dark comedy but it’s not dark enough or funny enough, it just feels like absolute dog shit writing. And it’s a writer director movie, so I guess there’s only sam esmail to blame. Never heard of him. I’ll give him that there’s some fun camera movements, but even that got tired and played out after the 30th time we see a VERY OBVIOUSLY digital turn on the side so the whole world is on its side. Ok! Get it! The world is in disarray, so the camera needs to do that. But sprinkle it in buddy, not every 20 min. Got old real fast. Anyway. This is a no for me.

[taraxacum-vulpes]

why is everyone pretending like cyberpunk edgerunners is good. the writing is so bad i hate it

[bookishfreedom]

this book, in a word: pretentious

[romanian-spaceboy]

So I finally got to watch Leave the World Behind aaaaand I have so many thoughts.

I guess this film was pretty well done and it did the things it wanted to do. And it had great suspense and really kept me on my toes for a while. And it had amazing casting, I am after all forever a sucker for Ethan Hawke, even when he doesn't do much and just plays Ethan Hawke. BUUUT... I think I just fundamentally disagree with the core philosophy that this movie is trying to sell.

It actually comes as no surprise to me that the Obama's produced it, cause it's kind of selling the very classical liberal idea that people are nasty and secretly evil and that when all hell breaks loose it's gonna be every person for themself. The classic Hobbesian view of the world as a bunch of selfish individuals that need a state too keep them from killing eachother. A view I held in the past, but that I now believe to be total bullshit.

It pains me that this film is gonna be seen as a realistic representation of human nature (cause that's how society teaches us to see things). But it's just as realistic as The Lord of the Flies. By which I mean not at all. When the actual premise of that book happened, reality was much much brighter. Actually, something pretty relevant for the premise of this film did happen in New Orleans after Katrina, didn't it? (don't really know, not American). And it wasn't really that lawless, was it?

In a way, this is a very Barak Obama film. It dresses as a radical and brave peace of art, but then ends up just reconfirming the core values of the status-quo. Yes, we can! But we won't!

[thechanelmuse]

Leave the World Behind

Have y'all seen that movie yet? Predictive programming 👀😵‍💫

I read the book by Rumaan Alam, which the movie is adapted from, in 2021. I was gonna do a brief comparative review of the film and book until I realized I 🤔...I don't remember the book that much and forgot to pen my thoughts about it at that time. Great 🙃.

I thought about rereading it, then halted. The two things I do remember:

1. How annoyed I was with the graphic descriptions of sex scenes and bodily fluids. Alam needs to not ever do that shit again. It doesn't drive the story but rather my patience. Let's act like it didn't happen.

2. An unsettling feeling and the thought-provoking suspense of the unknown. In books, like movies, an author has to show through actions and sensory details and not tell through through exposition. So even though I don't remember much, this book is mostly likely more fitting for the screen than the page because the unknown chaos is visual choreography that a novel can't match, all while sustaining an uncertainty and tension to keep you uneasy.

Although vague, I guess I just did a lil review. Boom lol.

[gaykarstaagforever]

I saw Leave the World Behind, because I know people who still pay for Netflix and act like it still has value, in a world where YouTube and Tubi have thousands of good movies available for free.

...I mean I still pay for Max and Shudder, so maybe I'm the idiot.

Leave the World Behind was...fine. Cast was good, in the case of Kevin Bacon for 6 minutes and Ethan Hawke being a flaccid shlub, really damn good. But this was certainly a tiny psychological horror movie about race and paranoia that could have been made for very little money, that they juiced with expensive crunch CG for absolutely zero good reason.

The dialogue was weird but that was obviously intentional, and yes, the ending was crap. I got what they were going for and I appreciate the effort, but it presented itself as too big of a movie - with the CG and that cast - to get away with that.

You lured the standard dipshit popcorn audience in with this, and then didn't give them anything they wanted. Kind of a doomed move. This could have been made for $20,000 with a good nobody cast and been just as good, or better. Feels like it was probably a troubled production. And it isn't good enough to justify it.

Just watch 2007's The Mist, for the same tone and sentiment, but way better. Plus that at least has giant monsters in it.

And yes, I get they were angling for a Jordan Peele-esque "racial commentary via horror" thing. And fine. But that's a hard nail to hit, in that Jordan Peele doesn't always nail it perfectly. And he's the best at this. For all the build up, Leave the World Behind doesn't really do anything with that. I felt like I was led out to the middle of nowhere to prove a point, but now you've abandoned me here and I don't see the point, because you didn't do a great job of it. And now, even if I guess your point, I'm only focused on how you could have done this better.

It's fine. Watch The Mist.

[agentnico]

Top 10 WORST Movies of 2023

For every good movie there’s always a dozen stinkers, and 2023 brought out a lot of turkeys, and I’m not referring to all the poor birds that ended up in our bellies this Christmas season. It’s become a tradition for me every year to do a top 10 best and worst movies of the year list, and I tend to leave the top 10 best list till later as I catch up will the awards potentials, however with the bad list I get right on into it. There are of course many bad movies this year I didn’t see, as I don’t actively seek out to watch the bad ones, but I have heard that these following haven’t been the best: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, The Marvels, Indiana Jones 5, Shazam: Fury of the Gods, Expend4bles, Children of the Corn, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey…… damn, a lot of films got a bad rep this year. Yet I have 10 other ones that I’ve seen that I thought were crap. Don’t worry if a film you loved ends up on this list, it will simply mean your opinion is wrong and your have to live with that. With that in mind, here’s my humble list of the shit-fest Hollywood had to offer in 2023…

10) ANT-MAN & THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA - Everything that is wrong with the current state of Marvel is exhibited on full display here. Lacking a sense of direction and exploiting the idea of the multiverse just for the sake of it, the movie is a dud. It feels like whilst trying to focus on going bigger and bolder, the movie lost the sense of fun that elevated the earlier instalments in the tiny hero’s franchise. Paul Rudd is still as charming and likeable as ever, however the introduction of Kang as the next MCU Big Bad is pointless seeing as this big baddie can be defeated by a bunch of ants. Don’t make no difference now anyway with Jonathan Majors losing the court case, but who in the first place thought “oh yeah, Kang is a badass who killed many Avengers, but a giant head of Corey Stoll should weaken him no problem”. Look, there’s no sugarcoating it - this movie is bad. Also, Bill Murray appears in this because…?

9) THE BEANIE BUBBLE - Zack Galifianakis without any facial hair is truly a sight to behold, but that’s not enough to make this fluffy yet bland behind-the-scenes look at the famous Beanie Babies toys even remotely interesting. It’s as if this film can’t bear (thank you) to show the creepier side of these toys, as this should have been a more darker and messed up tale, especially with the lightly implied institutional sexism. Oh well, that’s that then.

8) WE HAVE A GHOST - If ever there was a movie that fit more to the phrase “Netflix & Chill” then this is it, as you will be too busy banging your partner or your sock than caring about a silent speechless David Harbour creeping about Casper-like and being all quiet and mysterious. To be fair he’s the only redeemable quality as the rest of the movie is a mishmash hodgepodge of genres that is neither funny, nor effective in its family drama dynamic. At least seeing Jennifer Coolidge jump out a window was mildly amusing. Mildly. Anyway, where’s that sock?

7) THE OLD WAY - It is truly fascinating that after starring in over 100 films, this is Nicolas Cage’s first ever western. Aside from that mind boggling revelation, this movie comes out with less than a bang. I don’t know, I was hoping for something a bit more mad, especially with Cage’s involvement. Heck, in the movie’s opening sequence Nicolas Cage is introduced with a sprawling Poirot-like moustache, and immediately I assumed that I am in for something ridiculous. However following that scene the movie cuts to 20 years later, and with that both the moustache and the hope for something exciting or weird is diminished to singular unseen atoms.

6) FOOL’S PARADISE - The directorial debut from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Charlie Day (who also writes and stars), misfiring Hollywood satire Fool’s Paradise wastes a strong ensemble cast that also includes Adrien Brody, Jason Sudeikis, Jason Bateman, Kate Beckinsale, Ken Jeong, Common, John Malkovich and the late Ray Liotta. Look, in a way I feel bad about including this film on this list, as you can tell this is a true passion project for Day and one that has good intentions by attempting to go back to the old-school slapstick Charlie Chaplin-era of comedy, with a lighthearted satire on the way the film industry works. In this case the result is neither sweet nor funny enough, and as such it’s an unfortunate misfire, but easily the most disappointing inclusion on this list.

5) GHOSTED - Adrien Brody’s crappy French accent in this movie I could have forgiven, if only I have not seen John Wick: Chapter 4 a couple of weeks prior where I experienced the most delightful Parisian mouthing of Bill Skarsgard’s villain, so now Brody’s French-ish slur sticks out like a sore thumb. What else sticks out is that Ghosted feels like a film from the early 2000s, featuring every cliche of the genre and with a romantic pairing of Chris Evans and Ana de Armas whom share zero chemistry. Their kissing scenes reminded me of that Andrew Garfield/Emma Stone SNL sketch where they don’t know how to kiss on camera, only in this case it’s unintentional. Also featuring a slew of pointless cameos, and I do mean pointless, this is a throwaway campy spy-action flick that is destined to be forgotten.

4) THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER - Billed as the true sequel to William Friedkin’s original horror masterpiece, it really shouldn’t have strived for that. Ellen Burstyn’s return is a waste. For those excited to see her, she’s only in 3 or 4 scenes total, and the creative choices made with her character are such a disservice to the original movie. Without spoiling, it’s a choice that seems to be inspired by the modern woke culture, with Burstyn’s Chris having being studying the art of exorcism ever since the events that transpired with her daughter, and then when questioned about why she herself did not partake in her daughter’s exorcism she blames the patriarchy. The choice of bringing her into this narrative and then what happens to her…it’s basically taking a classic character and making them dumb. I must say though that the only actual shocking moment in the movie comes in a scene involving her character, and though that moment itself is memorable, the build up towards it is so stupid. Also, with the return of Burstyn it comes as no surprise within the movie when a certain other character pops in for a cameo. Does it add anything to the movie’s story? No, it’s just there for cheap fan service. As for the movie itself, the horror hardly works. It’s not scary at all and you really shouldn’t believe in this one.

3) THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE - Yeah, I know, my inclusion of this film on the list will rattle some feathers, but I don’t care, as for any of you pricks out there thinking that stupid “Peaches” song deserves an Academy Award nomination, you guys are stupid and must be high on some very powerful shrooms. If so, I hope you’re having a great trip, but the fact stands that this movie is bad. Simply doing fan service for the sake of fan service don’t make for a good narrative. Me and my friend were bored throughout, as this movie is 100% for kids. There are nostalgic elements to it all, but I do believe that Illumination and Nintendo should have followed more in The Lego Movie’s footsteps and targeted the film for audiences of all ages, due to the fact that many who grew up with Mario are now adults themselves.

2) LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND - So much wasted potential. A long drawn-out slow shuffle to Nowheresville. A movie that offers so many ideas, plot points, and thread lines that are never answered or go anywhere. In Leave the World Behind things are truly happening under the motto “just because” and “why the hell not” and it makes the viewing experience immensely frustrating. Especially when the movie is nearly 2 and a half hours long and the anticlimactic abrupt ending is a slap to your face for wasting your time. Oh, and if I weren’t a fan of the Friends show before, now more so than ever.

1) 65 - Right ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to ask you all so kindly to rise up from your seats and give a humongous round of applause to 65 - the 2023 film to exhibit qualities of a top contender of the worst movie of this year. Look, I’m disappointed as you are. Adam Driver fighting dino-dinos’?! You’d be a madman to not want to see that! However here’s 65′s first mistake: there actually aren’t that many dinosaurs, let alone fights with them. I know right, I can sense the resounding aura of you, my kind audience, in unison thinking “what the f***?”. Exactly, what the fudge indeed. No, instead what we get is a couple of somewhat thrilling dinosaurs interactions, but overall the movie is just Adam Driver and this little girl walking. Just walking. Walking and whistling. Bunch of jackasses.

That’s it - we did it! Now I can happily forget I ever watched any of these and mentally prepare for what wonders of stupidity 2024 will bring to the big screen. As for my Best Movies of 2023 list, don’t worry, it’s a-coming. Still need to watch The Boy and the Heron and Poor Things and then all will be revealed…

[adamwatchesmovies]

Leave the World Behind (2023)

Leave the World Behind grabs you with its initial scenario, builds up the tension to a critical point, and then leaves you with a… mostly satisfying ending. I say mostly because the film is so well acted and raises so many complex emotions that your expectations rise to an impossibly high level. That sounds like a much harder criticism than intended. It just means the film is the kind you thoroughly enjoy during your initial watch but are unlikely to revisit.

During an impromptu weekend getaway at a luxurious home near the beach, Amanda (Julia Roberts), her husband Clay (Ethan Hawke), their teenage son Archie (Charlie Evans) and younger daughter Rose (Farrah Mackenzie) narrowly avoid an oil tanker than runs ashore. Soon after, they notice the TV no longer works and the internet is unavailable. When the home’s owner - George (Mahershala Ali) and his college-age daughter, Ruth (Myha’la) arrive unexpectedly - an already uneasy situation becomes even tenser.

One of the film’s biggest strengths is the way it keeps its cards close to its chest. Aside from a couple of brief messages on Amanda’s phone, we have no idea what’s happening. Some of the strange events seem unrelated and if they are connected, you have no idea what could be causing them. Hackers could be responsible for disrupting the television, Wi-Fi and cellphone networks, but why would that affect the nearby wildlife? Things only get spookier as more conflicting information about what’s happening trickles in. Even when theories about what’s causing this proposed, you’re unsure if you can trust the source, which offers you no comfort, whatsoever.

You’ll sweat plenty from the prospect of the world shutting down for mysterious, likely nefarious reasons and if you aren’t, the character interactions will. There’s something wrong with Amanda. It’s understandable that she’s nervous about the situation, but the moment George and his daughter arrive, something about them sets off a series of irrational alarms inside her head. You wonder if she would react the same if they were white, and George’s daughter wonders the same thing. With a greater disaster surely on its way, these people need to cooperate and stay cool. For the most part, they do. Clay is doing his best to defuse the situation, so is George but you know one false move and the polite harmony will crumble.

The characters help an already engaging scenario become the kind you can’t look away from. There’s a part of you that strongly dislikes, maybe even hates Amanda. She’s coming so close to ruining everything so consistently… but she never becomes a caricature. She’s too real. It’s easy for you to recognize a part of yourself in her. Julia Robert’s excellent performance helps. You could say the same about the entire cast. There are so many great character moments. Kevin Bacon has a small but critical role, Ethan Hawke is perfectly cast, same for Mahershala Ali and Myha’la. All the characters have flaws. So much that I’m not sure you could say you “like” any of them but you also understand how upsetting these events would be, so you can't help empathize.

There’s one plot thread I’m unsure what to make of. At the film's beginning, Rose is about to finish the TV series Friends. She’s on the last episode when the Wi-Fi gives out. At one point in the story, she wanders away from everyone, determined to find a way to finish her show. It’s not surprising, considering her mother has repeatedly chosen to shelter her children from the severity of the situation. Her obsession with a trivial matter - the lives of a bunch of fictional characters whose story ended in 2004 - sets off a chain reaction that has nearly everyone running and panicking. On the other hand, we see people who - rather than try and live their lives as normally as possible until things blow over - take these events as an opportunity to do what they wouldn't have been able to under normal circumstances, and that leads to a disaster of unimaginable magnitude. It makes you wonder what screenplay writer and director Sam Esmail thinks of Rose.

Leave the World Behind makes its 2hr+ running time fly by like nothing, creates one nail-biting situation after another and its conclusion will have you thinking for a while. There's a lot you could say about it, even if it isn't exactly pleasant or the kind of movie I think you'll feel the need to ever revisit. Considering you'd be watching it "for free"/as part of a subscription, it's an easy recommendation. (January 4, 2024)

[superbudsie]

Just watched the movie “Leave the World Behind” and it was so slowly paced I legit thought it was 5 hours long

Like I loved the concept and certain scenes but my GAWD I kept thinking the movie was gonna find it’s footing again and again and again and it just never happened

TLDR; It’s… am experience?

[thenineofus]

Did the Obamas really commission the dumbest, most overproduced and overlong adaptation of The Monsters are Due on Maple Street?