New York Times movie critic Stephen Holden found "The Age of Stupid," a new mock-documentary looking back at a future environmental apocalypse, is a "frightening jeremiad about the effects of climate change." Coming from the left-wing critic Holden, that's high praise.
In "The Age of Stupid," a frightening jeremiad about the effects of climate change, the craggy-faced British actor Pete Postlethwaite plays the Archivist, a finger-pointing, futuristic voice of doom in 2055. Peering into a retrospective crystal ball that shows scenes from the early 21st century, he scolds the human race for having committed suicide.
The curator of the Global Archive, a storage site of human knowledge in what is now a melted Arctic, the Archivist presses a rewind button on a touch screen to show documentary scenes related to climate change that were shot when there was still time for humanity to save itself. At the end of "The Age of Stupid," which uses crude animation that depicts London underwater, Sydney burning and Las Vegas buried in sand, the Archive is sent into space.
A much sterner and more alarming polemic than "An Inconvenient Truth," "The Age of Stupid," directed by Franny Armstrong, will be taken by some as an emergency wake-up call to do everything possible to avert impending catastrophe. In the film Mark Lynas, the British environmental activist and author of "Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet," warns of a tipping point around 2015 if the world doesn't immediately act to reduce carbon emissions. Once global temperatures warm more than two degrees, he says, all will be lost.
A two degree rise in temperature will doom the planet? The planet has been hotter than that in the past, and humans still walk the earth. Yet Holden embraced the hysterical idea without question.
Holden likes left-wing screedy documentaries, but not movies with conservative themes, such as "The Stoning of Soraya M.," about the subjugation of women in Islamic countries. (Holden dismissed it as "lurid-torture porn.")
Holden concluded by suggesting, only half-facetiously, that if humanity doesn't make wrenching lifestyle changes to combat (hypothetical) temperature rises, perhaps we don't deserve to live anyway:
A thread of needling gallows humor runs through "The Age of Stupid." Near the end of the film the Archivist wonders: "Why didn't we save ourselves? Was the answer that we weren't sure we were worth saving?" He may have a point.
—Clay Waters is the director of Times Watch, an MRC project tracking the New York Times.
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Crock of $hit
July 19, 2009 - 09:25 ET by nadadhimmiAs I write this, I'm shivering on my couch after foolishly leaving my windows open last night. I t dropped into the low 50"s. On July 18th, 2009. But Gore, Obama et al tell me to just give them control over my life and all will be saved from "global warming". The same "global warming " that is making me shiver in July when it should be 20 degrees warmer. The power grabbers are shameless in their goals and ruthless in their methods and actually have the audacity to tell me to believe them and not my own lying eyes. The hubris of Pelosi, Reed, Gore and the Great Usurper Obama himself is astounding and is starting to be resisted by the public. If Obama is successful in destroying American society as he wishes to do, he should be careful. He may be hung up by his heels from a gas station light pole as was another socialist named Benito Mussolini. Revolutions have a way of eating their own. Think of Robespierre. Obama is taking us down a road we have never been before, he may loose control of the car and be "seriously injured" in the crash.
Cool July day
July 19, 2009 - 09:38 ET by nkviking75On Friday in my area, north central Iowa, we set a record low and a record for the coldest high temperature. I had to wear a jacket during the early morning hours.
The more they rant about global warming, the colder it gets.
When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.
July 19, 2009 - 09:44 ET by jessieHThe NYT & the "age of stupid" in the same sentence. Does anybody see the irony in the two? The movie must be about the MSM. I can see the trailer- " the Age of Stupid, starring Al Gore! Costaring Pelosi, Dodd, Reid, Frank, with special guests Gietner, Waxman, Boxer, and the ACORN dancers! Tickets on sale now! For ticket pricing, call 1-800-you-screwed!!!!!!!!!!
Priorities
July 19, 2009 - 10:10 ET by ThoreauWhile global warming is a slight issue, moreso is the issue of companies spewing out toxic waste into the water table and the like. At least in the near term.
In the grand scheme of things, we're flying damn near an asteroid belt pretty soon. It's a 60 million year cycle of death and near death on this planet. Global warming don't mean jack sh|t compared to that.
These primates can dance around a fire all night hoping the planet won't warm up, but if we don't get off this rock we'll all die. The global warming of a fusion reaction on the surface of the Earth isn't something the Kyoto protocol is going to do anything about.
So what this is in the short and long term is political control by the UN. That's all the Kyoto protocol is. Foreigners givin legal precident to tell American companies and people how to live their lives. This is the first step in the communist/progressive's dream of a unified world order. Every dictatorship wants one, although it never works.
Re priorities
July 19, 2009 - 11:33 ET by slickwillie2001Agreed; real pollution is always more important than CO2 in my book, which is fake pollution. Regarding real pollution, our performance in the West on cleaning up industry and autos has been admirable. Ironically, a Kyoto-like protocol fully adopted will only mean that factories will relocate to places smart enough to avoid Kyoto, where protections against real pollution are much weaker. The result of Kyoto will therefore be more traditional pollution.
Re asteroids, I agree, but this kind of talk is still considered a little wacky. A near-miss or a small one might do us some good and wake up people to the reality of the danger. If you missed the Hammer on Friday, he had some good words on space exploration: 40 Years After Apollo 11, America's Retreat From the Moon
"Oh, please. Poverty and disease and social ills will always be with us. If we'd waited for them to be rectified before venturing out, we'd still be living in caves."
near-miss or a small one
July 19, 2009 - 15:08 ET by Dan The Man 2near-miss or a small one might do us some good and wake up people to the reality of the danger
I have a solution. We all go to one side of teh planet and jump all at once. I have scientifically derived that a few thoudsand times will steer us clear of any asteriod. I am preparing a slide show and then a book and movie to warn people.
Dan... ROFL! Hey, why
July 19, 2009 - 18:41 ET by bigtimerDan...
ROFL!
Hey, why not, if you get really rich remember your pals. ;-)
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
I Would Think
July 19, 2009 - 10:35 ET by sic721Any 'documentary' titled "The Age of Stupid" would be a compilation of every speech Obama has given.
"The human race divides itself politically into those who want to be controlled, and those who have no such desire."-Robert A. Heinlein
Typical employee of the
July 19, 2009 - 16:36 ET by Andrew H.Typical employee of the Times--I'm sure his resume demonstrates he is as brainless as the other hirees.
Liberalism is a convenient lie.
Oh and now the year for
July 19, 2009 - 16:44 ET by bigtimerOh and now the year for doom is 2055...love how they always move that algoreglobalwarming goal post up ...blah blah blah.
I am so sick of these sick creatures with their agenda.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
I never claimed to be among
July 19, 2009 - 18:32 ET by FranksamI never claimed to be among the smartest NB reader, but I had the impression that people who really love the planet think that all the humans dying would be a good thing. An extreme greenie friend of mine asked me if I've watched the show about the world without people, and I answered "Why would I care about that?"
It's not like I'm going to get to drive a really cool car with no traffic.
Global . . .
July 20, 2009 - 04:01 ET by DoktorFranken. . . Warming, Cooling, Warming, Cooling, Warming, Cooling
They're right - now I'm lost. And freakin' cold.
Throw in a few apes riding
July 20, 2009 - 04:50 ET by AgnosticThrow in a few apes riding horses and I think I've seen this movie.
I have to agree with the end of the movie. Many years in the future with the end of Western Civilization only something that has been purged from the history books I can see someone say, 'Why didn't we save ourselves?" The Socialist have control and they are going to get everything they can as quickly as possible and if they fall out of power we will seen in 8-12 years another socialist who thinks that if things were only done their way it would work. Will the people and the media follow again?
A person may be won over with logic and reason but the masses must be bought with spectacle and platitudes. - 2008 Elections
Algore
July 20, 2009 - 08:43 ET by sevenHow did Algores flock fleecing excursion to australia work out last week? Extra snow?