paul jacobs
I used to buy every word of the national evening news back in 1984. Perhaps all of that Vietnam footage ( remember war footage anyone?) made me loyal because of big people explaining all of that blood to my little ears.Turned 19 the day before this aired originally. Didn't have HBO in my meager Hollywood,Ca apartment, but had I seen it I'm sure it would have been moving. Well years have passed and two Bush's in the White house later, I only see such films as a good example of how capitalism feeds the flame of war as propagated by big business. Where oh' were is the politics in that!? There is no political control or reform, just media blasphemy like this being fed to a blind public. Well, daily more and more of us are waking up to the truth. That NOW is the time for WE THE PEOPLE to rethink who is deserving of truly protecting and serving us and MAKING IT SO! Don't ask me how, but the current liars need gone!Movie brought back memories though of my dad talking to Walter Cronkite through the screen disagreeably. Hmm...
TheExpatriate700
Countdown to Looking Glass is a good speculative thriller examining the outbreak of World War III. Made during the Cold War, it is rife with the tension of the period. It also gives a haunting portrait of how the apocalypse could have happened.Through a series of news reports, we see events spiral out of control following a financial collapse in South America. We see both the televised reports and the behind the scenes debates among the reporters and their producers. The film not only has a keen eye for political developments, but also a good sense of the role of media in shaping the world.The film also wisely avoids showing the actual nuclear exchange. Rather than imitate The Day After, which had come out a year earlier, the film keeps its focus on the lead up to disaster, heightening the tension. It is a worthy entry in the early 80s end of the world genre.
Warge
This old film shares the same traits as most other films about a nuclear war, this time as seen from the fourth wall, your TV screen and from the rooms of a news station.As many other nuclear war movies, in order to really submerge the viewer into something unthinkable, this film does its homework very well, and having 'real' people like Newt Gingrich playing themselves only lends extra weight.However, being filmed as mainly a series of news broadcasts, the film fails at showing the human side of the conflict, and that is a pity, because the buildup is excellent.Of all the nuclear war films done in the 80's this is not the best - Threads show a nuclear war MUCH better. But that is not to say this or any other nuclear war film should not be seen - most do a splendid job showing a nuclear war from its respective perspective and Countdown to Looking Glass fits right in.Since this is written in 2009, it feels like it is still very valid with our bank crisis, failing economy and tension i the middle-east, and the fact that Countdown is still doing fine is a testament to the value and message: It could still happen.
path501
I think this was one of the most captivating and well thought out "Doomsday" movies ever made...does anyone have any clue as to where I can find this movie in 2006?I always think of the ending when the aircraft is flying through the myriad of mushroom clouds and think to myself that it would be an awesome spectacle to see something like that in reality. Of course I do not think I would want to experience it first hand, but just imagining the magnitude of it just boggles my mind, especially with the yield of our bombs being a hundred times more than what they were depicted as in this film, and the others, like "The Day After", and "Threads"My Ex-Wife has the only copy, that I know of, on video tape, and she cannot, or will not part with it...and I was just hoping that HBO or some other entity has had the urge to mass produce this work of art.
AD
