Good interview with Garland at the end of yesterday's Big Picture pod.

Amanda and CR both loved the movie but also verbalized the "What's the point?" question. Sean is totally in love with it and was almost dismissive of any criticism.

I think the White House breach — everything from when they arrive in DC through the bitter end — is probably one of the best action sequences I’ve ever seen

Not sure I get the "what's the point?" criticism. I think it's telling a smaller, simpler story than maybe the setting implies.

But also it really says a lot about our

Spoiler: show

Everyone was weirdly protective of the journalists in active war zones

That kept jumping out at me also. Like trag said, I obviously have no combat experience but in the scenes with the stakes as high as they were it seems to me that distraction could easily f up a mission.

Really enjoyed it overall though. I'm glad it left the political ideology mostly vague. Even if that makes it not overly substantial I think it was very effective in what it chose to focus on.

I wish they wouldn’t have used up the Jesse Plemmons scene in the trailer, because even with some of the beats spoiled, it was still tense as hell

I love him so dang much

Yeah that scene was crazy tense.

I think he would do well in a David Lynch production

Shirtless

Did you watch season 2 of Fargo?

Fargo is a movie, Mecca

Yes, yes I did.

I think Sean brought that up on the pod. These rebels know media is critical in winning hearts and minds. They probably think of it more like social media than journalism.

Ah, this makes sense…Seems like they could’ve made it a bit more obvious for pea brains like me with a simple line of dialogue.

Yeah I must have missed that too, though I did figure something in that vein is the most likely reasoning

Wow, very good movie. Few flashes of blandness, particularly during dialogue scenes early on, but it ramps up into something visceral. Very glad Garland didn't fully ditch the visual approach that made Men so special for me.

I personally didn't bump into "what's the point'" at all. The movie's theme was very repeatedly underlined and this brief, focused story is a great framing device for them.

Garland lays out his own politics and the what and why of the movie (and why he wrote it) in great detail during a conversation on the most recent episode of Pod Save America (this past Thursday's ep), if anyone is interested.

I still haven't seen the movie but I loved the conversation Alex and Favs had. Worth a listen, even if --- especially if? --- your politics don't align with those typically expressed by the pod and it's hosts.

Thanks, but I don't think I want to know.