Anyone else "The Day After Tomorrow" today?

[Terran]

I saw it, enjoyed it. It ain't deep, that's for sure, but it had its moments. The scene of New York being engulfed by a massive ocean swell is very sad and terrifying.

I've been having an ongoing argument with a guy in a Yahoo group who refuses to see it because of all the people touting the "bad science" in the film. He's not a republican, but I think he's been listening to Limbaugh a tad too much. I didn't think the film was particularly preachy at all--it could have been much more so.

Dirk

[m-jean03]

1. I'm going to see it the day after tomorrow.

Or maybe the day after that. Do they sell "Day After Tomorrow" pills to abort all memories of the film, in case it was especially bad? :D

[mhr]

2. It Was Better Than I Expected - A Good Summer Flick

eom

[bigwillq]

4. That's all it is-A summer fliick

What are people expecting-Shakespeare?

I hope I spelt that right.

[Massacure]

3. Do you think it will make more Americans want better environmental policy?

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

5. Probably not.

The movie kind of gives you the impression that such a thing could never happen in reality. Either that, or that we should get Mother Nature first before she gets us.

[jjmalonejr]

6. The worst movie I've ever enjoyed.

[Kool Kitty]

7. I saw it, and I really liked it.

Visually amazing in spots, not too heavy-handed in its message. And it certainly could have been, like you said. The theater where I saw it had the film running on three screens, and according to the ticket taker, it had been sold out on all three screens all day. I saw it at 5 pm, and it was sold out. The couple sitting next to us remarked about the movie VP resemblance (sp?) to Cheney, except the movie VP actually apologized for not taking the climatic threats seriously. I remarked to the woman that you would never hear Cheney apologize for anything. She agreed and said no one in this administration ever admits that they were wrong about anything, and people seated in front of us and behind us loudly concurred. (Which made me hopeful for November.) All in all, an enjoyable experience.

[bigwillq]

8. Good to hear

about the movie and those people's comments.

[fujiyama]

20. That's great!

Saw it today. I found it kinda corny and cheesy, but I gotta admit, it was an entertaining film.

What I also enjoyed were the audience reactions...There was one guy yelling out "bastard" to the VP at one point. I'm sure I wasn't the only one that saw the resemblance to Cheney.

I think when it comes to global warming and the environment, people are ahead of the curve than the administration.

However, I have a similar concern as others have expressed. Global warming IS a serious issue. It's not a joke, and like an other threat (like say terrorism), while people shouldn't overreact to it or anything...At the same time I'm a bit afraid the movie makes GW seem like a fictional idea -- as though it's just a hollywood myth...The polar ice caps are melting and the other climate changes around the world should be dealt with NOW.

The administration is completely off when they say, "there's no consensus on climate change". There is indeed a consensus -- scientists across the world know it's happening and have been warning about it.

[seventhson]

9. I took my kids to see it and have a LOT of thoughts

The fact ius that this is a fox production and is dangerously like innoculation (a Rove tactic used so effectiveyi in the suicided James Hatfield Bush-cocaine story): I.e. reduce global warming to unfactual farce - thus undermining the legitimate issues and making the whole deal an "entertainment"

I have no idea if the science of "instant freezing" is myth or not - but it does seem to kind of belittle the notion that we are in serious shit already.

The fact is that we are ALREADY experiencing the severe effects of global warming and this movie DOES draw some attention to the issue. I do not believe my kids will ever forget it and will bve more motivated to fight polluters and support alternatives.

The fact that Moveon.org is using this as an educational tool is a GREAT thing and if we ALL flier and discuss it it is a wonderful thing.

But remember it is only a movie: the dick cheny character comes around to see the error of his ways and the survivors live happily ever after. Not too realistic or even helpful (though I think there are some masterful strokes and the Cheney Prez relationship is beautiful.


The dialogue and plot is weak and thin in spots, but I have kids and look at it as an entertainment.

I urge people to see it and get involved with the Moveon handbill effort to get the true facts and find out what we can do.

But # 1 is get rid of the bastards in the white house - and if this film educates kids and folks who are naive then I am all for it.

The effects are awesome (and having been in NYC recently and been to the smoldering twin towers in the weeks after 9-11 (I used to do deliveries there) it has GREAT and scary and even 9-11ish special effects that made me squeamish. But I like disaster flicks (as do my kids) so I would see it again, just for the effects.

It is like Airport for the new millenium and that is okay with me. Fun, scary, and a little too safe. The reality is actually worse than this film shows. Millions are ALREADY dying. and so we to make this a sad american story where we "see the light" is NOT GOOD ENOUGH to get my political support other than to say - every little bit helps. And this, with good exposure and discussion, will help hopefully quite a bit. And it will hurt the cause some too.

yadayadayada

[Lorien]

15. Download the MoveOn flyer here:

http://www.moveon.org/dayafter/flyer.html

[SheilaT]

10. Visually impressive, (SPOILER ALERT)

and some, but only some, of the science is accurate. It would have been a much more interesting movie if the abrupt climate changes were made to happen over a couple of decades instead of a couple of weeks. (According to one book I've read recently about climate change, there's indications in the geological record that at least some ice ages may have occurred very swiftly, over just a few decades rather than hundreds or even thousands of years as previously thought.

Imagine the suspense if people had years to contemplate what's going to happen, to realize that they're going to have to abandon much of the northern hemisphere, and the resulting triaging that would occur. There's also an implication that if only the vice-president had listened to Dennis Quaid's warnings, that somehow disaster might have been averted. Which obviously isn't so.

I just wish Hollywood would realize that they don't have to be so formulaic: divorced couple, check. Troubled teen, check. Sick kid, check. Asshole government officials, check. Imminent danger, check. Hero saves the day and no good guys die, check.

It's also insulting that movie makers don't care how much they get wrong, so long as (or so they think) it makes a good story.

added on edit:
With so much water tied up in snow and ice, the sea levels would have dropped precipitously, and therefore those supposed views from space of the ice-covered continents, wouldn't have looked anything like they currently do.

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

12. You forgot a couple.

- Young couple shares mutual near-death experiences, thereby ensuring sex at some point in the near future
- Homeless minority teaches rich kid survival skills
- Old guy dies in a noble fashion for purely contrived reasons

And no, the ice age wouldn't have been adverted if the VP had pulled his head out of his ass. But there could have been some kind of infrastucture in place to evacuate that would have saved a lot of lives. Y'know, if they'd actually had time to do anything anyway...

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

11. Just got back from seeing it.

The acting is nothing special (not even the parts with Ian Holm), and the symbolism tends to beat you over the head. But it's nonetheless an enjoyable movie, much better than that crap piece with the aliens. It even got a couple of good laughs.

One of my favorite parts was at the end, when the President not only says those three little words "I was wrong", but also thanks the people of "what used to be called the Third World" for their kindness and generosity.

[greenman3610]

14. the book this was based on

is
The Coming Global Superstorm, by Whitley Streiber and
Art Bell.
It's actually a good read that I happened to pick up by
accident a few years ago. The loose scientific basis
relies on evidence of rapid climate change in the
past associated with shutdown of the North Atlantic
current. Wrap that up with the "quick frozen" mammoths
that are occasionally dug up in Siberia, and the
universal myths of great floods dating back about
8000 years, and there you have it, "Tobaggans of the Gods".

On the serious side, Wood's Hole Oceanographic has been concerned enough
about this prospect to feature it prominently on
their website,(http://www.whoi.edu/institutes/occi/currenttopics/ct_abruptclimate.htm) and the Global Economic forum in
Davos Switzerland has,reportedly, been buzzing about the
prospect in its last few meetings.
Good article from "The Atlantic" a few years ago described the
phenomenon.
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/98jan/climate.htm

[freethought]

13. Dramatized and exagerated but a good Movie

Everyone pretty much says the same thing. The Science was dramatized and exagerated and the acting was not "Oscar' caliber.
I will say that the CGI and visual effects were terrific. I really enjoyed the movie. I especially liked the scene when NYC was in the 'Eye of the Storm' and the freezing air was descending downward.
COOL! Pardon the pun.
Considering that I sat through three hours of 'Troy', checking my watch every ten to fifteen minutes, this movie held my attention.
I give it a good reccomendation!

[The Traveler]

16. Is the science really all that bad?

Back in the 70's, I was a physics student. In my classical mechanics class Dr. Harold Brewer (a.k.a "Brewer the Screwer", a well earned honorific) brought to our attention what was even then an old mystery: How could whooly mammoths could be found in Siberia frozen solid with green grass in their bellies ... they ate green grass in the morning and within 48 hours were frozen solid. Obviously a sudden climatic shift ...

Brewer favored this "axis flip" hypothesis, which had something to do with a "tipping point" achieved through gradual redistribution of mass due to polar ice cap growth or reduction. Something to do with Euler angles as I recall. Anyway, according to this hypothesis, the earths axis of rotation suddenly shifts ... the planet kinda flips.

One reason why I didn't buy it then (and the Screwer admitted it was a problem) was that tho the planet flips in this scenario the atmosphere doesn't ... it keeps rotating in its old orientation until atmospheric drag on the surface goads it into shifting. The result would be a prolonged period of really high speed winds ... literally hundreds of miles per hour. Our mammoths would have been ground to mammoth hamburger in minutes. In their perfectly preserved corpses, their is no evidence of that kind of abuse.

This seems to be one clear example of sudden and massive climatic change (for one reason on another) on a massive scale. I am really curious as to why scientists haven't mentioned those poor mammoth critters in their discussions on this.

Partly, I think it is because even those concerned about global warming just can't get their minds wrapped around the idea of that big a shift happening that quickly. But the study of dynamics assures us that complex systems can indeed change their equilibrium state with alarming speed. Like, instantaneously.

I,too, think the scenario described in the movie is unlikely ... but far from impossible. Who knows? We have never before seen a civilization whose output measureably affects the chemical composition of the atmosphere. Prehistoric climatic changes happened, well, prehistorically. We are marching down an unexplored road. How can we possibly predict the outcome?

Don't trust the commentary of the Cato institute dude. He's a hack, and they are just worried about implications to free market policies and property rights.

**edited to fix a couple of typos and regrettable grammatical errors. I spell good. ** sheepish grin **

[Ediacara]

18. The flip idea is 110% nonsense

The crust of the earth (including hydrosphere and atmosphere) account for something like 1/1000% of the mass of the Earth. Any change in its arangement is neglegible and could never cause any flipping or anything similar.

As for the mammoths..... Well, they can walk, and weather can change. No need for catastrophe, and well.... Grass is greener in colder climates.

[The Traveler]

19. Wish I could

Dial up old Doc Brewer from the grave so he could debate it with ya. It was so long ago I cannot recall the details of the argument. And, in any case, I didn't really buy the idea either, for reasons I cited. In the meantime, consider how small a nick in your wheel rim is required to make your tire bounce. It all has to do with speed of rotation and moments. The answers aren't always intuitive.

As for your other comments ... huh, what? That's a mighty long cold spell to be described as "weather". Grass is greener in cold climates? I dunno how green it was ... the point is the action of digestive acids was pretty much arrested. That and the state of the bodies indicates a very quick (and prolonged) freeze. I find it difficult to conceive of a mammoth walking out of a region of green grass and walking into a freezer willingly.

So I don't find your counter arguments at all convicing. Still regard the movie scenario as unlikely, but by no means has anyone thus far given me clear reasons to believe it impossible.

[Kool Kitty]

22. I don't think the science is all that bad, either.

There are lots of articles by scientists that aren't in this administration that think climate change could possibly happen this way. A lot of it is conjecture, but who's to say that this could definitely not happen in just this fashion and with this speed?

[seventhson]

23. Avalanch?

might account for it

[Crewleader]

17. Just got home from seeing it Dirk

the unexpected made me jump a few times friend!

It was OK, Al Gore recommends it, just as a wake up call for the health of our planet and it touches that subject with the global warming concerns and what pollution is doing to our home,
called Earth! :hi:

[Fight_n_back]

21. "The Passion" for Greens

It was better than I thought...some real funny stuff in there.