Civil War Movie Night feat Mike Prysner (Premium E242)

that interview clip highlight exposes the core fault of this movie: garland profits from the status quo and how the government enforces it, and the walking back of that by recent changes is the betrayal that motivates him. his only goal is to go back to the system where he profits once again. it is fundamentally selfish and does not address the deep cracks under americas success. if the impoverished people of the world keep suffering, it's a little disturbing to him, but really it just creates space for the heroic profession of taking cool pictures once in a while.

Using nytimes and MSM journalists as heroes while they cover up for a genocide is too much to swallow.

Travis view is getting too big for his britches. I believe it's time for brad and annie to end his reign of terror.

Very late to this but I thought that civil war was a film adaptation of the DMZ comics series. Didn't bother seeing the film when I found out it wasn't. Suppose it's too war on terror focused than Trump applicable.

I'm not surprised that Civil War is complete trash. I watched this asshole's movie 'Men' thinking (for some dumb ass reason... who knows?) that it was a horror movie written and directed by a woman about misogyny. I didn't get too far into it before I was like "there's no fucking way a woman wrote this". It feels like this Alex guy has been told repeatedly that he's a genius so he's allowed to make whatever films he wants and if you don't like them, you just don't get them. In 'Men', he theorized that woman are afraid of men because they think men are scary (...yup...) Also, woman are irrational, histrionic, and will never understand the distress of what it's like to have a dick that they want hanging out at all times, the torment of being ceaselessly horny, the agony of being filled with intense unlimited aggression, or the anguish of wanting to be loved by a woman who thinks you are weird and annoying AF. As a woman, I've been told repeatedly that I'm stupid and dramatic so this was nothing new. But I don't know how any man could have watched this garbage and not been offended. Or extremely confused. This movie also includes lengthy scenes of gratuitous body horror that make no actual sense but are presented as though they are revelatory. I'm convinced this Garland dude has never actually met or had a conversation in real life with another human being or sought the opinion of anyone living outside of his own head. I had no desire to watch Civil War outside of maybe a hate watch with friends. But honestly after listening to this episode, it sounds not only terrible but also boring as fuck.

I liked this movie. Lol. Idk, I just did

I think the worst thing this film did was dishearten Jake to the point that we got a 90-minute movie night episode without a single Ghostbusters reference.

I genuinely do not understand how you can watch the Jesse Plemons scene and even entertain the idea that the character might be a lib. The first thing we see is him using industrial machinery to dump bodies into a mass grave. Libs might tacitly approve of violent state action but the idea that a lib would massacre innocent people personally and then use a digger to dump the corpses into a predug mass grave is insane.

Me: I hate change Also me: *absentmindedly whistling along to new intro*

I feel silly for not realizing that the Hawaiian shirt guys were Boogaloo boys.

Haven't seen, prolly won't. I wish they would have just done Robert E's "After the Revolution". I think that would have given everyone on the panel what they want

I watched the movie a few days ago before listening to the podcast and I was fairly disappointed that it wasn't about all the whacky stuff I would have expected out of a Civil War in the current year movie. After giving it a while, sitting with it and writing down my thoughts I started to like it more. My thought process was that its not really America, its Americana. I thought about how it was a commentary on how America goes around the world and its colonialism causes such terrible atrocities in other countries, but can't stomach the idea of these things being on the home front. Sort of a anti-war Red Dawn. Follow that up it being from the perspective of Journalists who I thought the movie was trying to portray as soul-less vultures who would literally watch other people die if it feeds the specifically. I thought the scene with the man burning in the tire as well as Jess's instant ability to take photos of victims of the suicide bomber where condemnations of Journalist's own awe at how cool and necessary their work is. I watched the movie and I felt like our main characters where all fucking ghoulish voyeurs. So I was starting to like the movie, though I thought it was being a little overly clinical about journalists as a whole. Thanks to this podcast I now have the context to know that shit was meant to be jerking journalists off, and actually the did the opposite of what the director intended. What the actual fuck. I still think its not a bad movie, but this is an absolute failure on Garlands part. Personally Garland is on Fraud Watch and I'll be curious to see what he does next. Anyway thanks for the podcast its always nice to have new and interesting ways to be disappointed.

Haven't seen this yet but the description of the last shot of them posing like hunters with the dead body sounds blatantly similar to a scene from David Glazer's short "The Fall," which I suspect is a much better film that accomplished more in its short runtime than this. It takes on very similar themes as well and I highly recommend it, currently available on Criterion Channel.

From hearing interviews either Garland, he grew up around Journalists, and ones that specifically covered war zones. So I think he in a way idolizes them in a nostalgic way but he also has the hindsight to see the cynicism in all of it. Which falls in line with what he’s done previously. I don’t like it as much as his previous movies, but I could see what he is going for.

I’m drunk. So here you go. I’ve outlined an idea. Instead of a civil war have a genocide creating a blue island like Omaha In Nebraska blue to red. Follow a person trying to survive in that situation.

This is the most Karen/Lib that Jake has ever been. And I still love him

I saw the trailer for this when we saw Dune and I was like "who tf asked for this 🥲 read the room y'all"

I am late coming to this, but I wanted to share something that came to me: this movie is just a bad attempt at Children of Men, lacking all of the political courage of Alfonso Cuarón. The moral thesis, right, is that when society breaks down, humans can be terrible to each other, violent and chaotic. Both movies follow a relatively passive, observant main character, both films critique fascist governments and the violence of paramilitary movements. But Civil War just misses the mark completely. For example, consider that main character(s) who exist primarily as someone who is done upon, who is taken from, who is beaten or threatened. By the second act of Children of Men, Clive Owen's character is actually taking individual control of situations, and the crux of his *arc* is actually taking action against the violence and desperation of the day to protect something worth saving. Similarly, while both movies have a critique against government and rebel groups, it never looks at the common people (embodied by refugees and asylum seekers) with scorn. Even the Fishes are an organization taken over by a cynical faction, sapped of hope. Finally, the whole film is built around the idea of hope. The world of Children of Men is perhaps understandably cynical, but the entire plot revolves around what goodness and sacrifice people will do for a future. The power of the first ray ofbhope seen in years stops an entire battle in its tracks. Civil War has none of that. Rather, it seems that the director just thinks that there is no right or wrong, that all who undertake conflict are simply indecent. There is no hope in Civil War.

Lol, my all-black-wearing wife literally shouted "he's starting to piss me off!" when Jake kept saying "a tribe of witches"

Not dirty napkins in Jake’s ears 😭

Alex Garland is my favorite writer/director which made this so much more infuriating. Utter trash of a movie.

I would like to understand the reasons for film photography, I have not seen it. Also, screw you Julien. -a photographer

Tbf America could do with a few more offensively incorrect ignorant depictions of itself from overconfident foreign creators, you know, if it balances the scales a bit lol 😉 Hopefully a more direct, educated, spicy writer/producer/director can use this as a jumping board to finish what was started. But who would even be best for the job? Armando? Going too artsy or abstract increases chance information becomes muddled or lost on audiences who'd benefit the most from political educations.

Jake, that’s just onset middle age. ❤️

thank you, I listened to a few Garland interviews and they made me feel insane

Started listening at episode 1 on SoundCloud in January and I’m finally caught up to the most recent episode, thank you boys for this absolutely psychotic ride I’ve been on for the past 4 months, time to go listen to the mini series 🫡

Oh what's that? Films where it's unclear what the conflict is or what side we're on or why it's happening are annoying? What in the name of American movies about the troubles in Ireland could you possibly mean??

I thought Ex Machina was vapid too. He’s just not a good storyteller imo

I nearly died hearing Mike say that he wasn't sure if Jesse Plemons' was meant to be a right-winger or a liberal. How many tankie discords do you have to be a member of to think that that was even a slight possibility?

Call of Duty meets Pokémon Snap

I really feel like Alex Garland decided what the movie was about after he made it

Surprised you guys missed the opportunity to reference Footloose with the ‘swapping cars’ scene.

Think the point of the film is that the politics/ reasons for civil war occurring ultimately get dissolved in the reciprocal, escalating violent acts? Would highly recommend viewing the BBC 'Once Upon A Time in Iraq' documentary which definitely informed the film

Wait, Alex Garland was a story supervisor for DmC? the game where a guy snipes a pregnant woman’s stomach before blowing her head off in a hostage exchange? Oh brother

Hope it's ok to mention that the Chappo Trap House "Basterds in Heaven" film podcast review of Civil War went waaaay harder and kind of usurped my potential enjoyment of this episode (not a fan of their podcast, but the Chappo film night episodes have been utterly hilarious). Appreciated the QAA Alex Garland interview clips, that was new to me 👌

My favorite part of this episode so far is at the beginning when Jake is gaslit into thinking it was just the dolby digital that caused the gunshots to be loud. Me and my fiance saw it at a regular screening and also jumped. I've been a long time listener of QAA and this episode/not being broke is what finally got me to really 5D connect to the Internet!

Haven’t seen civil war but this episode did prompt me to watch 28 days later so thanks for that

Hard agree that Civil War is the most lib take on American politics (and especially American media) possible. I’ve actually started thinking recently (after the last six months of propaganda to cover up the Palestinian genocide) that the media actually IS the enemy that needs to be defeated for anything positive to ever happen in this fucking country.

I’m going to guess what they were trying to get at with the journalists talking about “good content” was that interview with Kevin Carter where he talked about how it was incredibly important for conflict photography to be visually striking, because that is what makes people not look away. The difference is Carter was a thoughtful person who was deeply effected by the things he saw and Alex Garland was not.

I went and saw this last Sunday here in Denver, & as I was walking in I realized that the type of people who were walking in with me were not who I was expecting. A large group of young men in cowboy boots & big belt buckles sat behind me. Hearing laughs arise around me during the scenes with Jesse plemmons was surprising. Afterwards, I could hear the group praising how good the Hawaiian shirts looked during the movie & how cool the scene with the boogaloo boys was.

Halfway through but so glad you guys are ragging on this. Dunno if I was offended because I mostly thought this was funny and love this new genre of like faux-prescient "this is what could happen to us" movies like this and Leave the World Behind where they try to give an ominous warning but the plot is so nonsensical that it doesn't actually convey any meaningful message. Like certainly a Civil War is possible but this fictitious one has no root cause and so it's too detached from American reality to be really something to maybe "prepare" us for the election, probably to avoid liability for using actually names but rendering the whole project kinda meaningless in the end. I think the conflict journalism part could make an interesting story but would need to be based actually on a fictitious war in a fictitious country to me, because as it stands one cannot get into that story if it is based on America itself since this feels so disconnected from actual culture. And Garland seemed disinterested in saying that much about conflict journalism anyway because this jumps so quickly from scene to scene for any sobering message. Makes me think of Oppenheimer as well which I wish more people openly lampooned.

Of course fucking Todd from Breaking Bad is a fascist in this.

agitating for a Southland Tales (2008) QAA movie night

No. I’m late thirties and I agree that Dolby Digital really grinds on the ears. I watched fast x and I winced when the music would start.

I swear on my life a portion of my audience applauded when Lee died and Jessie took a picture of her death. It was mind-blowing.

If you haven’t seen it and may: Don’t except some high minded movie about the possibility of it happening. It’s a civil war and you’re dropped in the middle of it. I only wish the plot was better. But holy fuck the Jesse Plemons scene is one I think many of us will think about for a while.

I think part of the reason there were no big battles between branches of the military or drone strikes is maybe because in order to use those assets would require approval from the US military and they could not get that

I always check comments first when you do movies I loved. Just as I did the Leave the World Behind ep, I should probably skip this one😂 As someone without a cynical bone in her body lol

When I watched it, I wasn't interested in being spoon-fed about politics or the lore behind the war, I was more interested in the humanity/inhumanity of the journalists and their subjects and how absolutely horrid and uncomfortable it is to witness and cover that kind of death and conflict in a very familiar homeland. I think the fact that this movie is divisive - many viewers wanting it to be more specific or purposeful, while others are left pondering and finding their own meaningful takeaways lends credence (in my view) to the effective vagueness of the story.

The end credits reminds me of Red dead redemption 2.

"How does he brush his teeth?" 🤣😂🤣

on pod save america garner used the words 'fascism' and 'authoritarianism' interchangeably ON PURPOSE.

This is not that but The Sweet East gave a lot of what Civil War failed to do I think. So good, would highly recommend it!

Ha ha ha. I actually enjoyed the movie. But I am enjoying this review too.

I liked it, I think y'all had some good points but it was an intense enjoyable viewing experience for me. Also I love photography so maybe that won me over.

Didn't the leftie guy say "101 minutes and you get ten minutes of fucking war"? 🤔

What Garland is at heart is a tourist, or more specifically a gap yearer. He spent his formative years roaming SE Asia, and from that produced what was a formative text for my generation, The Beach. Hence he is pretty good at portraying a road trip through a strange place with fairly annoying and naive middle class people, which is what this movie is fundamentally about. A gap yearer is usually good at describing *moments* from their trip, and from that you can draw a truthful bigger picture, but just as usually terrible at telling you what that bigger picture is themselves. They'll tell you something about creating more opportunities in these poverty-stricken places and these cool, tech-based NGOs their friends are involved in. They have to see themselves within the picture, you see. That's Garland. Through the impressions of Dunst's big stupid road trip we actually get a good view of what war is like on the ground, and indeed the deep cynicism and naivety of the journalism class themselves. Because Garland is aware of what these people are like, he's sat next to them for days at a time! But then you sit him down and ask him what this movie is about and he'll give you the frankly embarassing analysis he does, as Mike says apparently the take-away is mainstream journalism is extremely important and the real problem is the left isn't reaching out to the Jesse Clements character. I think that's the best way of bridging the gap between the sometimes incisive things the movie has to say and what the creator himself has to say about it. The fact that this movie came out at the same time as the war in Gaza and the likes of the NYT showing us precisely what it exists to do is unfortunate for it. The point the boys made about it being a technologically dated was the best one and honestly it's kind of tragic. You have a guy who used to be cool and still thinks he is cool, but no, his vision is old, his ideas are old, his takes are stale. It happens to us all but not all of us get 50 million dollars to make a movie about how journalism is soooo important but also kinda not? Cuz everything sucks. Overall: Gen X/10

Putting the zoomer alongside seasoned journalists is the dynamic of The Girls on the Bus on Max. You’re right, it’s entertaining!

Jake Hanrahan of Popular Front reviewed the movie from the perspective of a conflict journalist. Sounds like whatever budget the movie had, none of it was spent on a consultant who had actually seen a war zone up close. I refuse to spend a penny of my superior Canadian money to watch this tofu.

I think you were hard on the movie. The whole premise is that if we keep demonizing each other, it won’t matter what started it? I missed Travis on this episode, he keeps it deeper than a freshman dorm room level of politics.

I haven’t seen the movie, but that clip of Garland claiming the government’s main role is to stop fascism left me with my mouth hanging open. And he has lefty ideas about taxes and free markets? I don’t understand how he squares his viewpoints, and I really don’t think he does either. People like him are why things are terrible.

I liked it

I felt to me like it wants to be a remake of Full Metal Jacket, but it skips the boot camp section (how do we create monsters?) and goes straight to documenting the monstrosities. Also in that larger historical narratives are ignored or reduced to jokes. Like the people in the movie(s), we're here and have to deal with it. How we got here is irrelevant. I found Lee's character arc interesting, thankfully, as we spend so much time focused on her. After decades of disinterestedly bearing witness to war across the globe and even in America, seeing her own country's most sacred monuments being reduced to rubble finally breaks her. Don't look now to Israel, it might be your homeland.

This movie was a beautifully shot act of cowardice.

Okay, the numerology review was fucking awesome.

As a former victim of Trump Derangement Syndrome, I can actually see where he's coming from, but in doing a straightforward rendering of his world view, it sounds like he's inadvertently exposed how shallow it really is.

There was a great movie about flawed and educated-on-the-fly Western war photographers and journalists in a civil war and it’s called The Killing Fields. Brilliant movie about horrible real things. Perfect for QAA to cover this rubbish movie which invents a larp to be mildly upset about.

Listening to this made me think about the movie Nightcrawler (2014) and I guess the connection is that what if instead Civil War (2024) was about journalists being complicit in creating content for views.

I thought the point of the movie was that the journalists were just as monstrous as their subjects. All of them are just in it for the adrenaline and fame - literally the only time they try to stop something horrible from happening is to get a quote at the very end. People are blowing up NYC and they're hamming it up in fancy hotels. Obviously the climax scene with Jesse and Lee demonstrates Jesse has gone full monster. The Garland interviews kinda ruin this angle and make me like the movie less, but overall I thought the vagueness worked well. Movies that punch you in the face with a ton of lore tend to come off as lazy. I'm fine using my brain a little.

Minion Death Cult are the only podcast with a good take on this movie

I really liked it. 🤷‍♂️ I thought it was a smart move making it impossible to know what side any of the soldiers they encountered were fighting on.

Oh we know where the cherry coke is.

When I heard even Jake was like “nope. Bad film.” I knew it wasn’t good, as he said - “I’m a movie guy.”

I think y’all sold Garland short on this one. I have some critiques of Civil War myself, but yours isn’t all that coherent. You all seemed to agree that the takeaway was “war bad, journalists good” and then you point out that the our journalist characters are portrayed as morally disinterested, selfish and careerist… perhaps the the core ethic of the film is a bit more nuanced than you give it credit for. Dunst’s character makes her living by documenting tragedy and not interfering. Predictably, her character arc involves intervening in a tragedy and suffering the consequences of that choice. It’s not super-sophisticated writing but I didn’t hear anyone on the episode notice this arc. You all seem confused as to the purpose of her death in the script. Hm.

Calling it now: Civil War is the biggest chicken shit movie of the year.

Hello America and all the ships at sea! Here's the latest news from the front lines of the Civil War. The Western Forces offensive on Washington stalled today when it's armored spearheads ground to a halt. The Florida First Armored Golfcart Division halted its forward axis of advance when it outran its supply lines, resulting in a critical shortage of Ensure and colostomy bags. To the west California's 3rd Heavy Infantry Corps suffered a loss of leadership when it's overall commander, General Maxwell "Tits" Maxwell was electrocuted attempting to recharge his command Tesla. Texas has yet to commit it's 15th Monster Truck Division . Talking with its commander, General Beaufort Von Lee IV, who said " We ain't got ton move NO nuttin until Nascar season is over and LET'S GO BRANDON!."

NGL, I went on a similar rant after I saw it too. Luckily, no one filmed me. lol We saw it at the local drive-in, but we really went to see Godzilla x Kong. Civil War just happened to be first. I was so frustrated by the movie that I ended up sitting on my couch by myself feverishly reading the absolutely unhinged positive reviews until 2:30am, and then continued to rant about it when everyone got up the next day.

Killin’ it QAA! Another great episode

I’m just excited for the Civil War Fortnite skins

Being on the spectrum, I realized pretty quickly that I fucked up majorly by seeing a war movie in theaters.

Grandpa Jake is right. It is way too loud in Dolby.

Seems like y'all are missing the forest for the trees on this one. Julian's ceaseless, cynical color commentary was particularly grating this outing.

butts

Basically no one I know has seen this movie, so sharing in Julian's rage at its intellectual vapidity is extremely cathartic

I enjoyed the movie overall. I give it five bags of popcorn.

Alex Garland might be the most frustrating director working right now. 100% an ideas guy, which is fine if you hire on other writers. I'm still mad Annihilation was so mid (I SAID IT)

Haha, poor Jake. I was warned by my friend and brought ear plugs.

So unbelievably excited to listen to this, thank you so much

Never clicked play so fast, I LOVE QAA movie nights