Civil War | A24 | Alex Garland action thriller | 04/12/2024

[SpiderByte]

I don't think every movie needs to take a specific political stance but in a movie about a civil war caused by politics it's kind of inherently necessary. Even the Purge movies know this.

Edited March 20 by SpiderByte

[AniNate]

1 hour ago, SpiderByte said:

I don't think every movie needs to take a specific political stance but in a movie about a civil war caused by politics it's kind of inherently necessary. Even the Purge movies know this.

 

I mean clearly there is a certain political stance being taken here, it's just evidently not one that endears itself to social media pundits who want to believe the ideological struggle is a pure good vs evil battle.

 

Whatever stance he took he was gonna piss someone off, that much is certain from the last post I quoted. I'm sure he's aware of that as well since he doesn't have a social media presence. I definitely think it's presumptuous though to assume that the movie has nothing of value to say just because it allegedly doesn't take the side people want it to take based on uncharitable readings of third-party observations. 

 

 

Edited March 20 by AniNate

[Torontofan]

I mean as I said if california and texas ally in a civil war in a fictional story

 

Expecting it to give some message about the current political climate is silly

 

Like I find the film interesting as its an interesting topic not cause i want something to confirm my politics. 

[dudalb]

9 hours ago, SpiderByte said:

I don't think every movie needs to take a specific political stance but in a movie about a civil war caused by politics it's kind of inherently necessary. Even the Purge movies know this.

More and more I sget the feeling the Civil war is just a selling angle for just another \Post Apolclyptic shoot em up.

[SpiderByte]

Like you don't need absurdly complex politics but it's probably a good idea to at least have a take. Even the Robocop remake made a try at commentary about drone warfare

[MOVIEGUY]

All this #discourse over what a movie that you haven't seen yet is trying to say. Movies are back

[AniNate]

22 minutes ago, MOVIEGUY said:

All this #discourse over what a movie that you haven't seen yet is trying to say. Movies are back

 

I just hope it actually translates to good box office receipts. Garland I feel really is a singular talent helping to keep the kind of big idea driven cinema I want alive. I'd be pleased to see him evolve into another Nolan/Villeneuve figure where the major studios start to come to him for pitches.

 

Have to admit though I am kinda underwhelmed he's sticking in the war genre for his next one, even if I'm glad he's apparently in a better enough place mentally that he doesn't want to retire anymore. I do think his kind of austere yet evocative visual language is a novel approach to the genre though. The "bear" in Annihilation is legit some of the most terrifying imagery I think I've witnessed in a theater, and I anticipate certain moments here will similarly get under my skin. Looking forward to more Barrow/Salisbury work too, underrated composer/director collab.

[kayumanggi]

[AniNate]

Solid tracking to start, not sure how much overseas play this'll have but this would be good enough for A24 not to pull the leash on Garland's next I imagine

 

Civil War Movie Box Office Tracking for Terrific $20M-Plus Opening (hollywoodreporter.com)

[Scubasteve716]

Idk if it opens at $20 maybe it gets something like $60 domestic and maybe $30 int? A24 doesn’t do great overseas and can’t see this movie being an exception. People are acting like this is a really positive number but seems it’ll be a pretty big loss with a $50 mil budget. Maybe it does better overseas than I’m expecting. 

[AniNate]

I wouldn't say it's terrific but it'd be good enough to not hurt Garland's A24 relationship I imagine, especially since they're throwing money at Ari Aster again.

[Eric Duncan]

Saw the sneak peek after the Ex Machina re-release. It was basically the first few minutes of the movie. Was dogging on the whole thing for a bit, but it was honestly pretty damn effective. Bit of an awkward end of the clip,

where they clearly cut before they showed a big reveal. But hey. It looked good. Made me interested.

[DAJK]

I’m genuinely curious how this will play outside of America. I remember Joker playing much stronger OS than anyone anticipated, and I wonder if this can have a similar (smaller scale) effect. A lot of people I know here in Canada are interested in this since it appears to be a scathing critique of America (which tbh much of the world is already laughing at while also looking at it with trepidatious concern). 

[MattW]

Was hoping the movie would be about jesse plemons and those shades. Am disappointed.

[Avatree]

On 3/21/2024 at 1:22 AM, AniNate said:

 

I just hope it actually translates to good box office receipts. Garland I feel really is a singular talent helping to keep the kind of big idea driven cinema I want alive. I'd be pleased to see him evolve into another Nolan/Villeneuve figure where the major studios start to come to him for pitches.

 

Have to admit though I am kinda underwhelmed he's sticking in the war genre for his next one, even if I'm glad he's apparently in a better enough place mentally that he doesn't want to retire anymore. I do think his kind of austere yet evocative visual language is a novel approach to the genre though. The "bear" in Annihilation is legit some of the most terrifying imagery I think I've witnessed in a theater, and I anticipate certain moments here will similarly get under my skin. Looking forward to more Barrow/Salisbury work too, underrated composer/director collab.

Hasn’t Alex Garland said this is his last film? That he doesn’t enjoy directing and just wants to be a writer again.

[WittyUsername]

1 hour ago, Avatree said:

Hasn’t Alex Garland said this is his last film? That he doesn’t enjoy directing and just wants to be a writer again.

He’s co-directing that upcoming war movie for A24 too.

[AniNate]

Yeah, sounds like he got over that. Evidently struck up enough of a rapport with Mendoza that he wants to do a biopic of him now. 

 

 

Edited March 28 by AniNate

[Avatree]

5 hours ago, AniNate said:

Yeah, sounds like he got over that. Evidently struck up enough of a rapport with Mendoza that he wants to do a biopic of him now. 

 

 

That's good to know. I was sad when I read that Garland is retiring from directing. Maybe it was just a clickbait article I read anyway.

[AniNate]

No, it was a legit NY Times profile. I'm sure those were his genuine feelings at the time but anyone can change their mind. It does continue the narrative that people in the industry who make their retirement mullings public never tend to actually do it.

 

 

Edited March 28 by AniNate

[dudalb]

On 3/20/2024 at 6:05 AM, SpiderByte said:

I don't think every movie needs to take a specific political stance but in a movie about a civil war caused by politics it's kind of inherently necessary. Even the Purge movies know this.

This. 

This smacks of the old trick trying to make a conterversail movie that does not offend anybody. Can't be done.