I bought a ticket for a 6:30 showing earlier in the afternoon, and walked around and talked on the phone. I had three hours to kill - I mean, three and a half, because a movie with a big pull like this is going to have twice as many trailers, so, yeah... sounding like a broken record here, but the showtime is actually 7. I took an ill piss at REI (if you're ever on Houston and need to take an ill piss, go downstairs by the hiking boots, and theres a great restroom there), and then grabbed some hot bar at Whole Foods (it is far too easy to steal from here, and I have believed for a long time that this will be something that must end at some point, but it hasn't yet). I fingerboarded at Seward Park for nearly an hour and a half and talked on the phone. There is a fingerboard-able ledge that my friends and I have stashed away in the fountain, and it's really fun to use. I am constantly here fingerboarding - I'd say four days out of the week minimum. It's down the street from my favorite theater, and it's a great place to kill time and meet up with people or both. Today was a day for me to be by myself, and when I give myself a couple hours to fingerboard and then see a movie, I am normally quite happy.
When the movie is good, it punctuates the day grandly. And, again... This movie kicked so much damn ass!
CIVIL WAR is the new Alex Garland film about a fictional civil war happening in the US of A, clearly influenced by the 2020 and 2021 happenings of you-know-what. January 6th and all that... I have literally never seen EX MACHINA but I love 28 DAYS LATER, and there is a post-apoc. vibe here that reminded me much of that. It follows Kirsten Dunst as Lee Smith (Not to be confused with the world-famous skateboarder from City Stars' STREET CINEMA), a famous American journalist/photographer type, and her journalist/photographer peers, as they take a road trip across a few states to Washington DC to get photos of the overthrowing of the US government. Her colleague Joel is a journalist too, I guess, but he mostly just drives the van. We also have oldhead Sammy, veteran journalist guy and local fatass, who is wise in his years. It's those three and this young girl Jessie, who quite looks up to Smith. The second Civil War has erupted across this great nation, and they drive through a bunch of wreckage and additional bullshit to get there. They photograph gun battle and death across war-torn West Virgina, NYC, etc. There is a lot of violence, and Jessie has to learn to cope with it neutrally to become a better photographer. It reminded me a bit of NIGHTCRAWLER, and as the movie rolled, I was reminded of it several more times.
When I initially saw the trailer for this, I thought I would be getting something closer to the film BUSHWICK, where there is a clear enemy for us, the audience, to name as such. Being so obviously influenced by the 2020 stuff, I was expecting it, but Garland did a really good job making it neither WOKE or NOT WOKE. Or whatever the hell that is. The journalistic angle helps push the non-biased thing, too. We never have to walk into lame expostions like them watching something on the TV or reading some article. We barely even get an introduction to either of the factions that are at war here, and we don't really know who we like or not like, which is clearly the intention here. There are actually quite a few factions that make up this civil war, which I found out upon further research, and it isn't explained in the film, which I also thought was kind of nice... It's a war for war's sake, and we don't know what it's about, and we get to see loads of gunfire and explosions. It's really a great fictional movie. There is a nationalist kind of group, and there's also one that has painted nails and shit... They're both briefly shown, but the former is really menacing, and normally this kind of stuff comes off as corny, but here it invokes very tense moments.
The main group we are following is the Western Front, made up of the states of California and Texas (another intentional thing from the director to blur the line about who is who). They are protective of the press, and let Dunst & Co run around behind them and take photos of all the blood and guts and everything. Some of the more scary factions are less empathetic, and don't hesitate to fire rounds at them. They go through a bunch of bullshit, a lot of it because of stupid ass Joel (he'll do things like walk up to a clearly racist-looking guy with a gun and be like "Hey guys! We're the press!").
It feels like a pretty realistic depiction of what civil war would look like, I think, although I hesitate to say that for some reason. But little details are significant, and it makes it all feel dull, bleak, dark. They drive through relatively unharmed areas of the country, and then a township over will be an interstate jam packed with blown up cars. The setting and location and photography is worth it for the ticket price ($0) alone.
And there is a lot more cool shit happening, too. It's short too, and it doesn't feel it, which is rarely complimentary, but I mean it in the same way I'd describe 28 DAYS LATER. I feel like any more synopsis here is ruining what fun you may get to have seeing it for yourself. I am very surprised that I liked it as much as I did. I figured it would be fun at most, and it was that at most, too, but it was really fucking fun. You will probably be asked to go see this with your friends, and you probably should take that offer. There is a good amount of stuff out, but this is the best shit out right now!
This is the kind of movie that completes a good day for me. I love Regal Theaters. I love walking around by myself after the movie for no reason, walking around and looking up at the tall tall buildings of NYC, the bustle and chatter of noisy motherfuckers walking to and fro various bars and stores and restaraunts, contemplating where to go, reviewing where they once were. Many folks live here for the social aspect, and I am no stranger to that - but getting to sit in a park for a few hours and then seeing a movie on the big screen... god, there is nothing better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
