Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Donald Buehler I like apocalyptic movies - I like movies with human interaction/conflict - and I liked some of the things about this movie, but not much.This is the story of a pretty diverse mixture of past friends who happen to be getting together (after 8 years) in a remote cottage in Northern California - right when a nationwide attack which takes the power grid down - and civilization goes to crap. Fortunately, James, the owner of the cottage, is a prep-per who has done a good job of preparing for the apocalypse. The stress and contentiousness among the friends mimics "The Turning Point." but in a superficial and trite way. (If you have not seen "The Turning Point," you should.) The past catches up very quickly to the group as old passions, wrongs and new truths emerge as they try to deal with their current situation as well as the past. The dialogue is pretty hollow and many of the sub plots are predictable. So what was the one good point made in the movie?? ? Those who do not have the ability to protect themselves are at the mercy of people with guns. Once again, the naive sheep are at the mercy of the wolves and need a sheep dog. If you do not know what I am talking about - here is an excerpt from Dave Grossman's article on sheep, wolves, and sheep dogs: (Google Dave Grossman sheep, wolves and sheep dogs).My guess is the producers of the film were not trying to make this point, but it is an inescapable conclusion considering their predicament.The movie closes with everyone getting together and the communal family thriving. Not very likely or realistic.

ericrnolan "Goodbye World" (2013) is technically a post-apocalyptic drama. I say "technically" because this sometimes misguided movie contains little tension associated with its apocalyptic event. (A cyber- attack destroys the technological infrastructure of America and possibly the world.) Indeed, this catastrophe doesn't even truly drive the plot — it's more of a background subplot that fails to even affect the tone of the film. (The poster you see above is misleading.)Instead, the film scrutinizes the personal lives of a group of thirtyish college alumnae who have an informal reunion at a mountain cabin — one of their number is a plot-convenient intellectual- turned-survivalist. They're portrayed by an (admittedly quite good) ensemble cast. I think a lot of my friends would smile at "Gotham's" Jim Gordon (Ben Mckenzie) being a rather meek, feckless husband. And Caroline Dhavernas here is no longer the alpha female we saw in NBC's "Hannibal," but is rather an insecure, overly sensitive young wife who immaturely pines that she was the student "everyone hated."And there lies a problem that the movie has … few of these characters are terribly likable. Only Gaby Hoffmann's surprisingly tough civil servant made me root for her. And Kerry Bishe's perfectly performed, chatty neo-hippy eccentric was also pretty cool … Bishe might have given the best performance in the film. Finally, Linc Hand is a surprise standout, arriving halfway through in a menacing supporting role. It's a far smaller role, but damn if he doesn't nail it. (Please, Netflix, cast this guy as Bullseye in Season 3 of "Daredevil.")The others all seem either self-absorbed, self-righteous and preachy, or inscrutable and vaguely dumb. Dhavernas' character actually steals a child's teddy bear (which she herself had brought as a gift) and … sets it free in the forest. It was a belabored character metaphor when written. Worse, it just seems jarringly weird when it plays out on the screen.All the characters seem strangely detached about the watershed national or global crisis. Some cursory dialogue is devoted to the imagined welfare of their family, colleagues or other friends; the character interaction is devoted mostly to marriage issues and personal emotional crises that I have mostly forgotten as of this writing. And those seem maudlin and slightly selfish compared to the Fall of the United States. The characters mostly failed at engendering viewer sympathy in me.The screenwriters' juxtaposition of personal matters and the end of the world also seemed tone deaf. We follow what the writers hope are educated, successful and endearingly quirky fun people, and we're asked to worry about their love triangles and spousal communication issues. But … we're then asked to view this in the context of a pretty frightening collapse of society, complete with plot elements that are interchangeable with those of AMC's "The Walking Dead." (One secondary character turns violent over the issue of resources, then charismatically justifies his violence to a crowd using a half-baked ideology that seems to channel "The Governor.")I felt like I was watching two movies at once, and not in a good way. The opening motif is brilliantly creepy — the virus causes cell phones everywhere to receive a text reading the titular "Goodbye World." Our laconic, uniformly telegenic protagonists kinda just shrug at it. And even when suspicions arise in the group about whether one character is connected to the cyber-attack, there is dry, dialogue-driven humor instead of any real consequent tension. It was like John Hughes wrote a thirtysomething dramedy, but then tried unsuccessfully to sprinkle in the human pathos of one of George A. Romero's more pessimistic zombie films.But don't get me wrong. This wasn't even really a bad movie. I didn't hate it. It held my interest, its actors gave good performances, and I am a shameless fan of Dhavernas in particular. The cinematography was very good too, and the story's tonal differences were occasionally interesting. (This is definitely a unique end-of-the-world tale, if nothing else.)I'd honestly give "Goodbye World" a 7 out of 10. I think my expectations sitting down with it were just unusually high, seeing Dhavernas attached to what looked like an independent, cerebral, apocalyptic science fiction thriller. I might even recommend it if you're in the mood for a really unusual doomsday movie. Just don't expect "28 Days Later" (2002) or "The Divide" (2012), and you might like this.

lmweatherbee As anyone who enjoys Films / TV Shows / Books (maybe not so much books,) about the dismantling of society as we know it has surely noticed, mainstream media has taken a shift away from telling the story of every day survival, and has instead adopted a soap operaesque, cookie cutter, nitty-gritty narrative of dramatic, back stabbing, "real housewives," type story line for every production.This film is different.As this film progresses, the viewer is captivated by characters who go through profound self-realization, acceptance of how their world has and is changing, and (as many post-apocalyptic lack) a glimpse at the struggle to adjust, and thrive in their new world.No film is perfect, there are some dramatic things going on between the characters, but it doesn't stoop to the level of most, when the characters are upset at one another, it is for good reason. The producers really kept a good balance of true content, character development, and riveting situations.I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys a strong story, with actors who can back it up.

maplestar-828-672435 The ludicrous plot of Goodbye World makes Sharktopus seem plausible. Who's to know how a bunch of twenty-something's would react if the world found itself in the wake of a text-initiated terrorist attack (seriously?!), but I'm pretty sure this film serves as a record of how it wouldn't go down. I'm giving Goodbye World 2 stars: The first star is to acknowledge the half decent production quality. If only the filmmakers had had a decent script to work with, they may have come up with something worth watching. The sheer brilliance of creating such an abhorrent film deserves some sort of recognition in itself, and this is why I'm allocating Goodbye World a second star. Bravo!