My friends, I'm about to go on a rant. Before I get in too deep, though, I'd like to say that I'm not trying to take away from any picture on the 2024 movie schedule that hasn’t been nominated. And hey, the 2025 Golden Globe nominations have rewarded some pretty fantastic movies from this year’s calendar. But with the pleasantries aside, I need to go into why I’m still pretty mad that writer/director Alex Garland’s Civil War was shut out of this year’s crop of nominees.
It’s kind of weird to be talking about an A24 movie that didn’t get some sort of prestige praise, isn’t it? Look back to the 2023 Academy Award winners, the massive wins that Everything Everywhere All At Once banked were pretty amazing. That movie had a March 2022 release date, so don’t tell me that Civil War’s April 12th debut worked against its chances.
We’ve evolved past that point, especially since the movie’s September debut for Max subscription holders has led to a new crop of audience members chiming in. My colleague Mick Joest discussed why a Civil War complaint was actually an advantage. Another one of our writers, Jason Wiese, also highlighted an underrated Kirsten Dunst moment that helps tie together the fantastic ending for the 28 Years Later writer’s political thriller about a divided United States.
Which also points to another reason I’m shocked Civil War has somehow gone unrewarded at the 2025 Golden Globes: it plays to our political fears, but never goes full partisan. All sides of the spectrum can be equally afraid of a seemingly charismatic Nick Offerman running the United States into the ground, leading to one hell of a final showdown.
If you thinking we don’t know enough about what this unnamed head of state has done in his time as Commander-in-Chief, you’re wrong. Another brilliant stroke in Alex Garland’s execution of this movie is being able to give us so much background in a clever scene of exposition, delivered by A24 veteran/acting treasure Stephen McKinley Henderson.
So perhaps we all need to watch Civil War again to refresh our memories. Except me… I’ll rewatch it because I need to figure out where it lands on my top 10 of 2024 list.
But before I leave you to ponder this subject for yourself, let me give you one final reason to celebrate Civil War. The entire movie is thoughtfully constructed and mindfully crafted to be an intellectually stimulating look at what a wartorn America could look like.
At the same time, it includes an action sequence like the liberation of occupied Washington D.C. It's a sequence full of such shock and awe that I still remember being glued to the screen when seeing it at the press screening.
In a movie landscape where people are worried about films either being too dry or too broad, this impressive package had it all. Call it “a thinker,” or an "exhilarating thrill ride,” or even “an intellectual blockbuster triumph” like I did in my Civil War review. Just don’t call it unworthy of awards consideration, because that’s as close to treason as you can get without pulling some major stunts, like the ones shown in this movie.
All this, and there's not one mention of Jesse Plemons’ brilliant last minute casting to be found! For you dear readers who want to join in on the love for Civil War, you can currently stream it on Max. As for the voting body of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, I’m not mad. I’m disappointed and mad. However, there’s a chance I could be walked back from anger, and that depends on how many nominations Saturday Night has landed on your list of nominees.
