Mountainhead

I don't understand the negative reviews - thought it was very funny, but also super relevant to the times we're living in where these billionaires really do have all the power. And where AI and social media can be extremely destructive to society and democracy. The cast was fantastic, the characters were super weird, but it's exactly how I imagine the Mark Zuckerbergs of the world to be. At times (mostly in the beginning) it was hard to follow, but that also made it kind of interesting. Like they had their own language that we mere mortals don't speak or understand. Very unique movie, one you should definitely watch.

I thought the movie was great. I don't understand the frequency of negative reviews. Maybe it's the common man's denial of understanding that, in the minds of billionaires, the middle class is as relevant as cockroaches. Or maybe the negative reviews are the result of sabotage by the AI of some billionaire who doesn't want such true representations of his class in a movie.

Another aspect to consider is that the film is, above all, a warning to the common man and the paths that capitalism is taking our lives from now on. I'm still reflecting on the impacts of what I saw and it reminded me a bit of Black Mirror. If you didn't like the film, don't worry. We're already in it in real life.

Y dear middle class citizen, be very afraid.

I am not sure what they were going for. It was marketed as somewhat of a thriller, but the dialogue was trying to be comedic and quite frankly the execution was poor. The whole plot wasn't very feasible and it's another one of those straight to TV movies. The premise that one of them released software that could create deep, fake AI stories that couldn't be detected seem to be ignored by everybody in the world, and it was causing disruption everywhere when everybody in the world knew the stories were only on that particular platform, which had already announced that you should be skeptical. Aside from that a whole plot involving the four billionaires was not very believable.

This movie is masterfully done. The problem is that very, very few people in general can relate to it.

It's billed as a comedy, and it is, but not in the form of jokes or slapstick, but in mocking. The characters are a caricature of tech founders, how they act, talk, etc. And they nailed it absolutely. The underlying theme stitched throughout is how Godlike and smart these people feel they are, while in actuality unable to do even simple tasks.

I've had the displeasure of having known two wealthy tech founders, and every single line and situation reminded me of them, only slightly more absurd of course.

I'm rating it high because I think they absolutely captured the mindset and what a joke they are at face value. But it dawned on me that it's more like an inside joke than something to release a movie about.

I think people are being a bit harsh here. I laughed and winced a bit and enjoyed the performances somewhat. It doesn't reach the heights of Succession because it's not Succession. Yes it felt rushed and not of the standards set by his own crazy success, but it's an HBO movie satire that was shot in several weeks to hit on current hot topics. It's fine.

The story got a bit tedious towards the end and the jump in pace two thirds in didn't quite work. However, this was Jesse Armstrong's directorial debut and I'll be interested to see where he goes from here after an ok start - whether he doubles down on crafting himself as film director or sticking to TV.

If you can't think of something to watch and you want to laugh a bit at how awful the world is - and who runs it - give it a bash.